


The Attraction of Contrast

by vaughnicus



Category: Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Romance, Skyfall, i can't write endings, kind of, new account celebration, not sure where this came from, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-27
Updated: 2012-11-27
Packaged: 2017-11-19 17:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/575640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaughnicus/pseuds/vaughnicus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James Bond is not subtle. Q is. When the body and the mind meet, unexpected things happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Attraction of Contrast

**Author's Note:**

> A semi-stream of consciousness attempt at character/relationship study. My first 00Q fic and my first AO3 post. I do hope you enjoy it. Don't be afraid to leave constructive criticism.

_“Love is needing someone. Love is putting up with someone’s bad qualities because they somehow complete you.” – Sarah Dessen._

 

* * *

 

James Bond has never been a subtle person.

            Sure, he can fake the trait when he has to. Being an agent of MI6 means he must be an actor some of the time, so he’s learned to drop hints quietly enough. But he was raised brash and bold. He learned at a young age that most people do not pick up on slight changes in body language simply because most people are ignorant. He learned to take what you want quickly and obviously.

            He’s not always been such a commanding presence, after all. Before he grew into his muscular profile, he was small and pale, and never really noticed by others. There were times this came in handy (one can’t easily skim a wallet off another if they’re thrice as large as the target), but mostly it was disadvantageous. So he learned. To carry himself strongly, and speak confidently, and say what he wanted.

            Q, on the other hand, deals in subtlety.

            His business is in the details: catching the one variable that’s wrong in an equation; glimpsing the single string of warped code that’s deconstructing a network.

            Unlike his agent, he hasn’t grown into an outline of strength – not a physical one, anyway. But unlike his agent, he’s learned that understatement is his greatest asset (no one expects a young, stringy lad to be able to do the things he can). Sticking to the shadows is how he prospers. Whether in the cyber world or the physical one, Q tends to be the type of person who never says a word as he collapses minds and mainframes. Being in such a position of authority as he is now is new to him. He must collaborate; he must order. But this task too can be done without brazen commands and actions.

            He’s an efficient worker and one well-liked, if occasionally misunderstood. After all, not every first year understands that when there’s an extra ‘Q’ at the end of their primary sequence of the day, it means their superior requires their immediate presence. But they are a tight, intelligent group, and they learn.

            This is just how they are, and for the most part, it works.

            In the field, in fact, it works better than almost anyone in their company has seen. Q stands at his station, attentive to every small instruction 007 should need. The agent in the field listens to hear the big picture and acts as he sees fit. Q analyzes all passageways in the maze and finds the prime escape path, while Bond smashes through the walls to the exit. Somewhere there is compromise. The method means frequent squabbles but a staggeringly high success rate.

            Unfortunately, that harmony in the field does not always carry over to everyday situations.

            Bond doesn’t quite get that when Q says ‘well done, Bond’ at the end of every mission with _that certain_ undertone, it means something else entirely.

            And Q hasn’t yet comprehended that when his agent gruffly replies ‘couldn’t have done it without you,’ it isn’t a joke.

            The boundary between them is simple: Bond is a physical being. Q is a mental one.

            There are very few words or actions that can permeate this barrier entirely enough to get the same message to both individuals. But there are a few.

            So when Bond’s subcutaneous tracker stops broadcasting and he won’t reply to Q’s frantic (yes, frantic, a wholly unsubtle state, and Q will realize that later) calls, and Bond can no longer hear his quartermaster’s voice in his ear and questions why this certain alleyway seems so much darker than all the former ones and why it’s so much harder to move, both start to wonder what they’ve been missing.

            And when Bond returns eight days later after complete silence on both ends of their connection, neither one is really surprised when he marches straight up to the head of Q branch, takes him by the arms, and kisses him straight on the lips in front of everyone.

            The start of their real journey is all due to a malfunction. A malfunction of a transmitter; a malfunction of the muscles; a malfunction of the mind.

            In the beautiful aftermath of the collapsing of a barrier, there are more than a few who notice a more brazen (but still kind) authority from Q, and a sudden softening around 007’s edges.

            In the end, neither brain nor brawn triumphs. They instead join together and form something new; something whole that bickers and dances and sprints and saunters. Something that cannot be stopped, and something that is at once subtle and so very obvious.

            And this something is so successful and indelible that the peers around them stop bothering to say both of their names and instead join them together into a name more efficient.

            The first time their new label arrives on a brief, Q scoffs and Bond smirks. But no one hears from them, and the joke sticks.

            The mind and the body, meant to be. One cannot function without the other, and since that day of discovery, neither has wanted to.

            


End file.
